I’ve only had two mortgage payments taken but I can tell you I really am feeling the pinch. Buying things like sofa, fridge tables, chairs, washing machine, bed and so on really leaves you out of pocket unless you can find good deals and you’re able to sacrifice on going out, shopping etc. I really wanted to go on a nice holiday this year but that’s down the drain due to all this house stuff. Then as gazza mentioned, you’ll always tend to have something in the house you need to repair or just decorate/improve. So my advice is to be a bit of a mingebag (in a good way) and save up as much as you can early on.